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Evin House of Detention

Evin Prison (Persian: زندان اوین‎ Zendān Evin) is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. It is noted for its political prisoners' wing, where prisoners have been held both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Due to the number of intellectuals that the prison housed, it was nicknamed "Evin University."^[1]

Background[link]

Constructed in 1972 under the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Evin Prison is located at the foot of the Alborz mountains on the former home of Ziaeddin Tabatabaee, who briefly served as prime minister in the 1920s. The grounds of the prison included an execution yard, courtroom and separate blocks for common criminals and female inmates. Originally operated by the Shah's security and intelligence service, SAVAK, Evin quickly supplanted Qasr Prison as "the country's Bastille." Initially designed to house 320 inmates (20 in solitary cells and 300 in two large communal blocks), Evin expanded to hold more than 1500 prisoners (including 100 solitary cells for the most important political prisoners) by 1977.^[2]

Under the Islamic Republic, the prison population was again expanded significantly, holding 15,000 inmates according to scholar Ervand Abrahamian.^[3] "In theory, Evin was a detention center for those awaiting trial," after which the prisoners would be transferred to another prison, Qezel Hesar or Gohardasht Prison. "In reality, Evin served as a regular prison as many waited years before being brought to trial," and prominent prisoners often served their entire sentences in Evin." Executions also took place at Evin.^[4] Following the Islamic Revolution, Mohammad Kachouyi was made warden of Evin. After his assassination in June 1981, Asadollah Lajevardi, the chief prosecutor of Tehran, served as warden until 1985.^[5] In 1998, the People's Mujahedin of Iran assassinated Lajevardi.

The prison is located in a residential and commercial area known as Evin, next to the Saadat Abad district. There is a large park area with a popular upscale teahouse and restaurant located immediately next to it. Photography in front of and around the prison is illegal.^[6]

Prisoners[link]

Notable prisoners at Evin before the 1979 revolution include Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani and Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri.^{[citation needed]}

On 23 June 2003, Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was arrested for taking photographs in front of the prison, and died of blunt trauma to the head, while imprisoned. The Iranian government said that she died from a stroke while being interrogated. Doctors examining Kazemi's body found evidence of rape, torture and a skull fracture.^[7]

Prisoners held after the Islamic revolution include Marina Nemat, who spent two years in Evin from 1982, having participated in anti regime protests at her school. She has written about her torture and the death of her fellow students at the prison.^[8]

Political prisoners of note held at Evin have included Akbar Ganji (held there from 2000 to 2006), Mohsen Sazegara (in 2003), Nasser Zarafshan, as well as Hamid Pourmand (2005-6), Dariush Zahedi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, on charges of espionage (2003), subsequently acquitted in 2004, and Ramin Jahanbegloo (2006).

At dawn on 27 July 2008, the Iranian Government executed a total of 29 people at Evin Prison by hanging.^[9]

Esha Momeni, a student at the California State University, Northridge, was held at Evin after her arrest on October 15, 2008 for crimes against national security.^[10] She was in Iran to visit family and research women's rights in the country.^[11][12] Momeni was released 11 November 2008.^[13]

Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, was arrested in January 2009 for reporting without press credentials with a charge of espionage added in April. She was held in the Evin Prison as well. She was released in May 2009.^[14][15]

Journalist/blogger Hossein Derakhshan was held at Evin after his arrest in November 2008, allegedly for spying for Israel.^[16]

French student Clotilde Reiss, who stood trial in August 2009 was also held there. Dr. Ehsan Naraghi, writer, was also believed to be held as a political prisoner in Evin.

Andrew Barber, a British Tourist, was arrested June 21, 2010 and held in Evin prison, section 209 for 58 days. He was accused of espionage due to a photograph he'd taken, but charges were later dropped.

Over the years, Iranian converts to Christianity have been detained for short and long periods. Recently on March 5, 2009 Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad and Maryam Rustampoor were arrested by Iranian security forces and labeled "anti-government activists".^[17] Thirty year-old Marzieh and 27-year-old Maryam were held at Evin Prison, which is notorious for treating women badly. "Women are allowed just a one-minute telephone call everyday to their immediate families." On November 18, 2009, Maryam and Marzieh were released without bail but the charges remained intact.^[18] In April 2010, five months after their release, a general court trial date is announced. In May 2010 Maryam and Marzieh are cleared of all charges.^[19]

Three Belgian tourists, Vincent Boon-Falleur, Idesbald Van den Bosch and Diego Mathieu, have been detained in Evin Prison for 3 months in 2009. Idesbald and Vincent were arrested on September 5, 2009, for entering an unmarked Iranian Military Zone near Semnan, and were detained in Semnan for 3 days, before being transferred to Evin. Diego was later (16 September) arrested at the Iran-Turkmenistan border, because the three had met the 4th of September and exchanged phone numbers. The three were accused of spying and detained for three months (8 September—8 December 2009) in Section 209 of the Evin Prison, first for a few weeks in solitary confinement, and then in 4-persons cells with other Iranians. They have been released thanks to Belgium diplomatic negotiations.^[20][21]

Three long time Middle-East residents, Americans convicted by the Iranians of spying for Israel, Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd, who were on holiday in Iraqi Kurdistan and were detained by Iran, have been held in Evin Prison since around the beginning of August 2009. Shourd was kept in solitary confinement.^[22] The Washington Post reported that "Shane Michael Bauer 27, Joshua Felix Fattal 27 and Sarah Emily Shourd 31 were arrested in July [2009] by Iranian border guards while hiking in the mountainous Kurdish region between Iraq and Iran. Their families say they crossed the border accidentally, but a top Iranian prosecutor last month accused the three of spying." In December, 2009, Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the three would be put on trial, in a move that coincided with other points of contention between the two countries.^[23] Sarah Shourd was freed Sept. 14, 2010 on $500,000 bail. Two days before, the three Americans had been charged with espionage by Iranian prosecutors.^{[citation needed]}

Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of Jundullah, was executed in the prison in 2010.

The prison also held members of religious minorities including members of the Bahá'í Faith — on May 14, 2008, members of an informal body that oversaw the needs of the Bahá'í community in Iran were arrested and taken to Evin prison.^[24] They were held in section 209 of the prison which is run by the government's Ministry of Intelligence.^[25] On August 11, 2010 it became known that the court sentence was 20 years imprisonment for each of the seven prisoners^[26] which was later reduced to ten years.^[27] After the sentence, they were transferred to Gohardasht Prison.^[28]

Ms. Saberi’s description of the conditions facing the two Bahá’i women offers considerable insight into what it is like to be unjustly incarcerated in Iran today — a situation experienced not only by Bahá’is, but by hundreds if not thousands among the journalists, women’s rights activists, human rights defenders, and peaceful protesters who are currently held in Iran.According to Ms. Saberi, the two Baha’i women are confined in a small cell about four meters by five meters in size, with two little, metal-covered windows. They have no bed. “They must sleep on blankets,” said Ms. Saberi. “They have no pillows, either. They roll up a blanket to use as a pillow. They use their chadors as a bed sheet. ^[29]

From January to May 2010, student activist Majid Tavakoli was held in Evin, primarily in solitary confinement.^[30] He began a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his imprisonment, and was transferred to Gohardasht Prison in August 2010.^[30]

Human rights blogger and US National Press Club honoree Kouhyar Goudarzi served a one-year prison term in Evin in 2010 for "spreading propaganda against the regime".^[31] On 31 July 2011, he was rearrested, and though his current whereabouts are unconfirmed, he is believed to be being held in solitary confinement in Evin.^[32]

Reactions[link]

In August 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad commented in a live broadcast on the state radio on rape and torture in the Iranian prisons and said; "In some detention centers inappropriate measures have taken place for which the enemy was again responsible." ^[33]

Following the election, Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi said that several male and female protesters held behind bars have been savagely raped, according to a confidential letter to powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.^[34] Karroubi warned that this was only a "fragment" of the evidence he had and that if the denials did not stop, he would release even more.^[35][36]

Roxana Saberi, who spent 100 days in Evin in 2009, accused of espionage and threatening Iran’s national security. She had been living in Iran for six years, working as a journalist and writing a book about modern Iran based on interviews with a broad cross-section of society, when she was detained. She later described her ordeal in a book, titled 'Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran' (2010).^[37]

It is said, that rape has been used by interrogators in Iran for decades.^[38] During the 1980s, the rape of female political prisoners was prevalent. It was so prevalent that it prompted Hussein-Ali Montazeri, who was Ayatollah Khomeini’s deputy at the time, to write the following to Khomeini in a letter dated October 7, 1986: "Did you know that young women are raped in some of the prisons of the Islamic Republic?"^[33]

Two prominent members of Iran’s human rights community, the feminist lawyer and journalist Shadi Sadr and the blogger and activist Mojtaba Saminejad, published essays online from inside Iran arguing that far from being a new phenomenon, prison rape has a long history in the Islamic Republic.^[33]

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

	Iran portal
	Criminal justice portal

• Iran Human rights, a site with the latest updates on some violations of the human rights situation in Iran
• Inside Iran's most notorious jail, BBC News report on a visit to the prison given by a group of domestic and foreign journalists.
• Abrahamian, Ervand, Tortured Confessions, University of California Press, 1999
• Evin Prison on Google Maps
• Photograph of Evin prison
• Iran intends to go forward with espionage trial of 3 Americans

Coordinates: 35°47′46″N 51°23′02″E / 35.796°N 51.384°E / 35.796; 51.384

Maziar Bahari (مازیار بهاری, (born 1967) is an Iranian Canadian journalist, film maker and human rights activist.^[1] He was a reporter for Newsweek from 1998 to 2011. Bahari was incarcerated by the Iranian government from June 2009 to October 20, 2009,^[2][3] and has written a New York Times best seller family memoir, Then They Came for Me.

Family and education[link]

Bahari was born in Tehran, Iran but moved to Canada in 1988 to study film and political science. His family has been involved in dissent politics in Iran, his father was imprisoned by the shah's regime in the 1950s, and his sister Maryam under the revolutionary government of Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s.^[4] He is married to Paola Gourley, an Italian-English lawyer working in London,^[5] who gave birth to their first child in October 2009 shortly after his release from prison.^[6]

Career[link]

He graduated with a degree in communications from Concordia University in Montreal. Soon after, Bahari made his first film, The Voyage of the Saint Louis, about the attempt by 937 German Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany on that ship in 1939, who were turned away by both Cuba and the United States and ultimately forced to return to the Third Reich. In producing the film, Bahari became the first Muslim to make a film about the Holocaust. When asked what motivated him to make the film, he cited the courses he took at Concordia, where he:

studied the modern history of the Jews and I was fascinated by the history of the Jews in North America. I took a course on Freud and religion and the professor talked a lot about early 20th century anti-Semitism in the U.S. and Canada. I had no idea that even up until the 1950s Jews were discriminated against in North America, so I wanted to explore that further. As an immigrant, I was interested in the history of Jewish immigration from Europe to America. So I looked for a story to combine all these elements and came across the story of the St. Louis.

Later, while he was imprisoned in Iran the film "haunted" him, with his interrogators accusing him of being on a mission to work for Zionists.^[7]

In 1997 Bahari began reporting in Iran and making independent documentaries, and in 1998 he became Newsweek magazine's Iran correspondent.^[8]

He has produced a number of other documentaries and news reports for Channel 4, BBC and other broadcasters around the world on subjects as varied as private lives of Ayatollahs, African architecture, Iranians' passion for football and contemporary history of Iran. In 2003, Harvard Film Archive praised Bahari's work:

"In a country known for neorealist fiction films that focus on small events in the lives of individuals, the work of Iranian director Maziar Bahari is somewhat anomalous. Employing a traditional documentary style to explore more far-reaching cultural events, Bahari’s films provide a glimpse inside contemporary Iranian culture as they reveal the human element behind the headlines and capture cultural truths through the lens of individual experience. Representing a new generation of young Iranian filmmakers, Bahari’s trenchant looks at social issues in his country have brought both controversy and international acclaim."^[9]

Bahari's films have won several awards and nominations including an Emmy in 2005.^[10] A retrospective of Bahari's films was organized in November 2007 by the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.^[11] In September 2009, Bahari was nominated by Desmond Tutu for the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, widely known as Spain's Nobel Prize.^[12]

Arrest, imprisonment, release[link]

On the morning of June 21, 2009, during the 2009 Iranian Election Protests, Bahari was arrested at his family's home in Tehran and taken to Evin Prison.^[13] In July, while incarcerated, he appeared ^[14] in a televised confession (broadcast internationally by PressTV^[15]) telling his interviewer that Western journalists worked as spies;^[16] that he had covered "illegal demonstrations" and "illegal gatherings", and was helping promote a "colour revolution" (i.e. peaceful, democratic regime-change).^[17][18]

His confession was dismissed by his family, his colleagues, and Reporters Without Borders, saying that it must have come under duress. Outside Iran, an international campaign to free him was headed by his wife and included petitions launched by Committee to Protect Journalists, Index on Censorship, International PEN, and groups of documentary filmmakers.^[5] Newsweek ran full-page advertisements in several major newspapers calling for his release.^[8] US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke publicly of his case.^[2][3][19]

On October 20, after 118 days^[20] in jail and charged with 11 counts of espionage, Bahari was released on $300,000 bail and a promise to spy on dozens of "anti-revolutionary elements" inside and outside Iran for the Revolutionary Guard and report to them weekly (a promise he had no intention of keeping).^[21] He was allowed to leave the country and return to London days before the birth of his daughter.^[22]

Post-imprisonment[link]

After his release Bahari recounted his time in prison in interviews and writings. He appeared on a segment of the television news program 60 Minutes^[23] and was the subject of an article in Newsweek.^[24] Bahari stated he confessed for television after physical and psychological torture. He was held in solitary confinement, interrogated daily (either blindfolded or made to face away from his interrogator),^[20] threatened with execution, and repeatedly slapped, kicked, punched, and hit with a belt by his interrogator.^[25] Bahari's interrogator told him they knew he (Bahari) "was working for four different intelligence agencies: the CIA, Mossad, MI6 and Newsweek." Bahari (who vehemently denies spying on Iran) believes it was desperation to find "any evidence to prove I was a spy" that led his captors to believe his providing an American TV personality with a list of Iranians they could talk to in Iran, was evidence of his being a spy. (Bahari provided such a list shortly before he was interviewed by Jason Jones^[26] a "correspondent" of The Daily Show, who dressed up as a spy as a joke for the story.)^[16] He believes he was targeted to intimidate other international Iranian-born journalists, who unlike foreign journalists can operate free of regime minders, blend in with crowds, and understand the cultural and linguistic nuances of the moves the regime makes.^[26]

In interviews Bahari stated that his interrogator told him not to talk about what happened to him in prison, as the Revolutionary Guards have "people all around the world and they can always bring me back to Iran in a bag". Bahari has stated that he will not be able to safely return to Iran until the Islamic Republic falls.^[23] In Iran he was tried in absentia by a revolutionary court, and sentenced to thirteen and a half years' imprisonment plus 74 lashes.^[27]

Campaign for other jailed Prisoners in Iran[link]

Upon his release Bahari launched a campaign in support of other jailed journalists in Iran. The name of the campaign ^[28] — Our Future Society will be a Free Society — was inspired by a quote from the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.^[29] In an International Herald Tribune op-ed to launch the campaign Bahari wrote to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

"You may feel safe in your modest house, protected by thousands of revolutionary guards. But beyond them the world is changing. Iran is changing. In 1978, as the shah was doing his best to stifle his people, Ayatollah Khomeini promised that 'in an Islamic Iran the media will have the freedom to express all Iran’s realities and events.' Hoping they could realize that promise, Iranians rose up and overthrew the shah. Ayatollah Khamenei, those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it." ^[30]

Press TV vs Maziar Bahari[link]

After his release Bahari launched a complaint against Iranian government's English satellite channel, Press TV, for filming and airing an interview with him under duress. In May 2011, Ofcom upheld Bahari's three complaints against Press TV. In the summary Ofcom said Press TV's presentation of Bahari was unfair because it "omitted material facts and was placed in a context in which inferences adverse to Mr Bahari could be drawn". The media regulator also said that Press TV failed to get his consent and this "contributed to the overall unfairness to Mr Bahari in the item broadcast". Ofcom added that filming and broadcasting the interview without consent "while he was in a sensitive situation and vulnerable state was an unwarranted infringement of Mr Bahari's privacy".^[15]

Upon the release of Ofcom's findings, Press TV launched a campaign against Bahari and Ofcom. Bahari was accused of being "an MI6 contact person".^[31] Press TV called Ofcom's ruling "part of an anti-Iranian campaign," and noted "A quick look at senior decision makers at OFCOM demonstrates that the regulator is mostly made up of former Channel4 and BBC executives, some of whom are well-linked to and influenced by powerful pro-Israeli politicians."^[32][33] Press TV's failure to pay a £100,000 fine for showing Bahari's 'confession' was connected with the revocation of Press TV's licence to broadcast in the UK, via satellite, in January 2012.^[34]

Filmography[link]

• Paint! No Matter What, 1999 (about artist Khosrow Hassanzadeh)
• Of Shames and Coffins (about Aids in South Africa)
• Mohammad and the Matchmaker (about an HIV+ man's search for love in Iran)
• Football, Iranian Style (about Iranian passion for soccer)
• And Along Came a Spider (about a serial killer in Iran)
• Targets: Reporters in Iraq (about post traumatic stress disorder among journalists working in Iraq)
• Greetings from Sadr City (about life in the Baghdad suburb during the war)
• A Cult that would be an Army - Cult of the Chameleon (about terrorist group Mujaheddin Khalgh of Iran)
• The Fall of a Shah (about the history of the Iranian Revolution)
• An Iranian Odyssey (about the CIA-backed 1953 coup in Iran)

[edit] Then They Came for Me (Book)

Bahari wrote a prison memoir and family history, Then They Came for Me. The book became a New York Times Best Seller and has been called "incredible" by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show who is working with Bahari on a film based on the book.^[1] Doug Saunders of The Globe and Mail called the book “Moving and, at times, very funny which offers a number of lessons about the way Middle Eastern politics work.” ^[35] Leslie Scrivener of The Toronto Star explained “Then They Came for Me is a gripping story that weaves his family’s history of incarceration by Iranian rulers with his own.” ^[36] Mother Jones magazine said that “Then They Came for Me is not only a fascinating, human exploration into Bahari's personal experience but it also provides insight into the shared experience of those affected by repressive governments everywhere.” ^[37] Kirkus Reviews praised the book for “Providing an illuminating glimpse into the security apparatus of one of the world’s most repressive countries. Especially timely given recent events throughout the Middle East, this book is recommended for anyone wishing to better understand the workings of a police state.” ^[38]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Author profile at Newsweek
  • 118 Days, 12 Hours, 54 Minutes, Bahari's diary from June 21, 2009 through November 2009
• Maziar Bahari on Charlie Rose
• Appearances on The Daily Show
• Maziar Bahari: Witness, 60 Minutes on CBS News, November 22, 2009
• Maziar Bahari on Tavis Smiley, June 15, 2011
• Maziar Bahari at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Maziar Bahari in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Maziar Bahari collected news and commentary at The New York Times

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